Best Friends
by Weasley-and-Proud
Summary: Would it have been different if James and Lily had been childhood best friends, even before Hogwarts? What if they grew up practically attached at the hip? Would the infamous marauders have had a female member instead of a rat that betrayed them all? R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**I am currently suffering from a severe case of writers block with my other stories, so I decided to start another one! I hope you like it! :) **

"James, are you still awake?" whispered the eleven-year-old redhead.

"Yeah, are you?" the black haired boy replied, also in a hushed tone.

"Well, yes. How could I be asking you if you were awake if I wasn't actually awake myself?" the girl asked confusedly, with just a hint of amusement leaking into her voice.

"Oh, yeah…well, you could have been sleep-talking," he pointed out, also beginning to see the comical side that this conversation was heading in.

"I don't sleep-talk, you know that," she replied, a smile starting to slowly spread across her pretty face.

"That's what you think. You have no idea about the interesting things I have heard from you whilst you are asleep! 'Oh, James! I love you, James!'" he laughed before getting smacked in the face with a pillow. "Lilllly, that hurrrrrt!" he whined after he had made sure that the cushion wasn't going to come back for more.

"Shut up, James!" Lily giggled quietly. "We'll wake up your parents, and I don't fancy getting yelled at again because of the fact that you can't keep your fat mouth shut!" she teased good-naturedly.

"Awww, Lils! My mouth is not fat! I simply have very kissable, pout-a-'licious lips!" he grinned, puckering up to try and prove his point and then he proceeded to try and kiss the squirming girl next to him.

"Nooo! James, get the hell away from me!" she shrieked, almost mutely, laughing despite herself, thrashing beneath the covers to try and escape.

"Tell me that my mouth is not fat and that you find my lips very nice," he demanded, before trying to plant a very slobbery-looking kiss somewhere on her face. Now was not the time for accuracy, even getting anywhere near her was proving to be quite some challenge.

"Never!" she proclaimed, grabbing the pillow behind her head to smack James again; only it didn't work, and he pulled it out of her grasp before she could attempt to attack him with it.

"Okay then, I'll make it extra sloppy, just for you!" James grinned, licking his lips to show that he was in-no-way-shape-or-form joking.

"Wait! No, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed in alarm. "OK! James Harold Potter, your mouth is not fat and I find your lips very nice – however, I _do_ find your mouth humongous and your lips look nice in the kind of i-just-got-hit-in-the-face-with-a-bludger-and-my-face-is-swolen-to-the-size-of-a-baloon, nice – Aaargh! Yuck, James! That was my nose!" Lily groaned, after James finally managed to reach her.

He lay back, looking rather smug with his achievement of beating her.

"What's wrong? Didn't you like your kiss? Well, if that's the case I'll give you another one!" he announced trying to sit up again but only for Lily to throw herself over his stomach in a desperate attempt to prevent him doing such a thing.

"You are not going anywhere!" she said firmly from her place on-top of him.

"Is that so?" James answered back, a smirk playing on the corners of his mouth.

"Yes, it is. You're not – HEY! Oooof! James!" Lily whined pathetically from a heap on the floor next to the bed.

A very amused James lent over the side of the mattress and looked at her sprawled out on the carpet, and then he just burst out laughing…well, before she gave him one of her glares – which shut him up instantly. He held out his hands and quickly pulled her to her feet, so not to get in any more trouble.

Lily flopped back down on the bed next to him and sighed irately. "I hate you," she grumbled, grabbing a fistful of the duvet and throwing it over herself, turning away from him in a huff.

"No you don't! You love me! Remember?" he asked, also trying to create himself a cocoon out of the remaining bedding that wasn't wound around Lily.

"Nope, you're an arse," she replied haughtily.

_Typical Lily_… He sighed in amusement at her annoyance.

"Do you want me to kiss you again?" he asked warningly. "Because I will, if you do not stop sulking this instant!"

"I'm not sulking," sulked Lily.

_She's so stubborn! But I guess that's just one of the many things that make her, her._ James thought fondly.

"Yes you are, dearest Lily-flower! Pleeeease, grace me with the presence of your lovely face and mess of knots that once resembled your hair!" he begged.

No reply.

Sighing in mock irritation, he pulled her half of the duvet from around her and she spun out of it, like an unrolling yo-yo, right into him, as he'd planned.

"That is cheating," Lily pointed out grumpily.

"No, it's not, and you know it. You know we never go to sleep on bad terms," he said in such a serious voice that – that and the story behind those words –made them both start laughing.

It took several minutes for them to calm down to a state where they would be physically capable of talking to each other.

"That's never going to get old!" Lily finally managed to choke out.

"No, I doubt it will!" James laughed back, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.

James's parents had this rule in the house that two people sharing the same bed couldn't fall asleep before fixing any prior arguments that were unsettled between them, completely forgetting the fact that Lily and James slept in the same bed nearly as often as Harold and Camilla Potter did!

But Lily and James had always shared a bed whilst staying at the others' house. They had grown up doing that, and now it seemed weird not to. There were only a few collective nights a week when they slept apart.

People had often said that Lily and James were attached at the hip, and they were right.

Best friends, practically from birth, they grew up together, learnt how to do things like play Quidditch together and they were hardly seen without the other by their side. And now they were taking another massive step in life together.

Tomorrow was the first of September, and they were going to Hogwarts.

They'd been dreaming about what it would be like there for years; asking their parents about their time there, and trying to get as much information out of them as possible. Unfortunately, it hadn't worked.

No matter how hard they tried to prise details of the castle out of the adults, they bluntly refused – every time – to tell them _anything_! It was infuriating!

James had even begged Lily to cry, in hope of her parents feeling sorry for her and telling her _something_. _Anything_! Whatever she found out would be better than nothing.

It didn't work. David and Emily Evans had not been fooled at all.

So after what seemed like thousands of failed attempts, the pair were finally forced to admit defeat on the subject. But these plans had been good for one thing. They had sculpted the two eleven year olds into amazing pranksters. With James's suggestions and creativity and Lily's overall knowledge on how to make things work, they were an unstoppable team.

*start of flashback*

"_Merlin, help the Professors," Mrs Potter said tiredly. She had just been the target to one of the duo's pranks; and unfortunately for her, it had gone off without a hitch._

"_Never mind that! Do you two promise to give me a run-by of each prank that you pull?" Mr Potter asked eagerly, being a former prankster himself when he was at Hogwarts._

"_Harold!" Mrs Potter exclaimed disapprovingly._

"_Yes, Dad," James grinned, throwing Lily a mischievous smile._

"_Sure, Mr Potter!" Lily agreed with James, trying not to laugh at Mrs Potter's famous death glare that was being sent at her husband, who shrunk back and smiled sheepishly at his wife._

*end of flashback* 

That was the day that James and Lily made the oath of a bond that would last them forever. No matter what happened in the future, they would always be there for each other. Any problems, they would get through it together.

"James?" Lily asked, still again, the sombre mood returning.

"Yeah?" he replied, twisting around to face her.

"You're not…going to forget all about me, are you?" she said worriedly.

"What? No! Of course not! Why would I ever forget you? You're my best friend!" James exclaimed in confusion, sitting up in the bed and lighting the candle on the bedside table – creating a soft glow to form over Lily do that he could see her.

She looked nervous, apprehensive, and slightly scared all at once. Her shoulder-length red hair was spread out on the pillows behind her and her piercing green eyes looked so unsure for just a second that it made James internally gasp.

_She truly thinks I'm going to forget her!_ He realised with a jolt of shock.

"When we go to Hogwarts, I'm sure that there's going to be much better people to be around than me. There will be more boys your age. I doubt you'll want to be around a girl, with them there instead," she murmured, looking at the ceiling fearfully.

"Lils, you will always be my best friend, a group of guys isn't going to change that," James tried to assure her.

"But you don't know that!" she insisted.

"I do! Angel, I meant what I said when we took that oath," he promised, using her favourite nickname. At first, he had just used it to tease her slightly when her parents used to call her their 'little angel'. But eventually the teasing had left, yet the name stuck and James had been calling her it ever since.

Lily smiled meekly. "It's going to be so different there. What about if we get sorted into different houses?"

"Not going to happen. Lils, if you get sorted into Slytherin – which is never going to happen anyway, but still – I'll follow you there," he said truthfully.

"But you…you _hate_ Slytherin! Why would you even consider going there?"

"Because I'd go anywhere if it meant staying with you, Angel. You're my best friend. And anyway, Slytherin could do with some half-decent pupils like us, especially two pranksters!"

This finally managed to make her smile. She sat up quickly and gave James a hug.

"Thank you, Muffin," she grinned, pulling back from the embrace, the mischief returning to her eyes.

"No worries," he smiled back at her, thankful that the joking Lily had returned.

"Hogwarts is not going to know what hit it!" she smirked.

"That's the plan," he agreed.

"Alright then," Lily announced after a second of silence. "Sleep time," she proclaimed, laying back down and getting comfortable again.

"Awww! Come on, Lils! Just a few more minutes?" James begged.

"Do you want to miss the train tomorrow?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

"No, I guess not…fine! Alright!" he finally caved, after taking one look at her warning face. She could be _scary_ when she was angry, and that was without a wand!

James blew out the candle and climbed back under the duvet and it was silent for a few minutes. He thought Lily had actually fallen asleep but then a small hand reached out and took James's carefully. He got the message immediately.

Even though she could pretend to be fully confident and put on a brave face, she was still plainly terrified.

He rearranged their hands so that her fingers were entwined with his and he gave her hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze, before pulling the duvet up completely over their bodies, so to keep warm.

"Goodnight, Lily," he whispered.

"Goodnight, James," she replied, just as quietly, but for the first time that day she felt at ease. James would always be there for her and vice versa. Somehow, they were going to get through Hogwarts, together.

They would always be best friends.

**Um…hi. If you're new to my stories: Welcome! If you've read my other stories and are now reading this and thinking 'oh she isn't dead then', you'd be very much correct, in some aspects…. Yes, dear readers, I am writing this from beyond the grave! … Anyway, skimming briefly over the theatrics, I am in fact still alive and very much planning on continuing both of my other stories. I am not sure when I'll update next, but let's just hope it's soon :) **

**But let's focus on this particular story right now :) What did you think of it? Any good? Please let me know what your thoughts are! Review pleeeeeeeease! :D **

**I don't know when I'll update this next, obviously I need to update 'Summer with the Marauders' and 'A LoveHate Relationship' first before I do anything else, but I'll try and not take months to post the next chapter ;)**

**Until next time!**

**Love Megan xxx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, do you remember me? The girl who said she would try and update soon? Yeah…I'm sorry? I honestly don't have any excuses this time, I'm just too lazy to type up what I have written down in notebooks… Well here's chapter 2, I hope you like it :) **

**I don't own James or Lily (as much as I would love to) but the plot is mine! That's got to account for something though, right? ;) **

Camilla Potter had always been an early riser. Every morning – without fail – she would get up at five am and go for a walk around the garden.

The Potter's garden was beautiful. There were flowers of every colour, plentiful wildlife and there was even a gentle stream that flowed right through the centre. This stream was a perfect place to paddle in in the warm summer months and overall there was just something amazingly relaxing about being outside in the fresh air.

However, this morning was different from all of the others; this was the last day of her sons' 'childhood'. James was going away from home, he was growing up. Gone was the little boy who cried when he fell off his toy broomstick for the very first time. Gone was the child who barricaded himself in his bedroom for a whole week after his pet Krup died.

Thinking back to that one particular incident, neither Mr nor Mrs Potter had been able to persuade James to open the door for them.

Lily had been on holiday with her family at the time, but when she had heard about what had happened to James she demanded that her parents let her floo home to help. She had flooed right into the Potter house and marched up the stairs to James's room without saying a word.

Five minutes later and James had pulled open the door and yanked the redhead inside too. Then – by some miracle – just ten minutes later the bedroom door opened properly and out came Lily, holding James's hand reassuringly, guiding him back into civilisation.

The Potters had never been able to fathom how on Earth Lily had managed to get James out of that room in less than twenty minutes when they'd tried and tried for a solid week with no such luck.

But as the pair had grown up, their bond got ever stronger by the day, and by then the answer had become clear: James and Lily loved and cared for each other in a way that even adults could dream of.

They grey up best friends and had a bond that was almost more secure than blood. They never did anything without the other (apart from going to the bathroom, as they got older). Clothes shopping; they went together—neither of them particularly enjoyed it, but they suffered together.

The way that they were so at ease with each other was truly outstanding.

When it had become the time for Lily to start wearing bra's, James had encouraged and helped her through the annoyance; even at one point James himself wore one for a day to make a compromise: If I can do it, so can you. They had learnt together.

When James became old enough to de-Gnome the garden, at first he hated it; what was the point if the stupid things just crawled back? But Lily had invented a game to make it more fun: Who can throw a Gnome the furthest? With James's competitive streak, that was exactly what he needed to keep him focused. But yet, Mr and Mrs Potter had not been able to make him stay concentrated before that for long enough, instead he used to just grab his broom and fly to Lily's house to play.

They knew each other back to front, probably better than they knew themselves. Lily always knew when James was sad and how to cheer him up again, and James could easily tell when Lily was about to explode, and when she started screaming and yelling, he was the only one who could calm her down before it got way out of control.

Mrs Potter had just come back inside the house after her routinely walk; it was now fast approaching six am. She made her way up to her son's bedroom and carefully opened the door, poking her head around. What she saw made her smile.

James and Lily were huddled together, their hands were entwined, and Lily's head was resting on James's shoulder. Both of them were looking so peaceful and carefree.

It was such a sweet sight that Mrs Potter had to go and fetch the camera to capture the moment.

_They would make a perfectly adorable couple_… she mused, snapping the photo. Not only were the two eleven year-olds suited exactly for each other, personality wise, but also their appearances were so striking that you could not help but to think that they had been made for each other; although they were nowhere near maturing physically yet, you could still see the potential.

James was lanky and small, and Lily was – somehow – shorter than James was and her features looked a little too big for her face, particularly her emerald green orbs. But even though they were still growing, they were growing together.

When Lily was crying she was always the exact size to fit perfectly into James's lap, and be able to snuggle into him. At the same time, James's hands had always been the precise size to fit Lily's in comfortably. It was clear that neither of the children had taken this into account, as they never knew any differently. How were they supposed to know how brilliantly matched they were, when being together like this was all they had ever known?

_Anyway_ – Mrs Potter continued to reason – _if they don't ever become romantically involved, I have blackmail to use against the pair of them! Ha!_ And James thought he only got his love and talents for pranking off his father!

Grinning to herself, Mrs Potter took one last look at the sleeping duo before examining the remainder of her son's – usually messy – bedroom. Surprisingly, the whole place was immaculate!

_Lily's bullied him into tiding up!_ She realised and laughed quietly under her breath. The young redhead had always been able to make James do things that nobody else could.

All of the things that had been carelessly slung randomly over the carpet days before, were now not on the carpet, but either put away neatly or stuffed into James's new trunk for Hogwarts.

Lily's trunk was laid down on the floor next to James's, also packed and ready to go.

Mrs Potter wasn't really sure who's room this was rightly considered anymore, half of Lily's belongings were at the Potter household and half of James's at the Evans's. But honestly, it did not even truly matter which house the pair chose to stay at for the night, each place was their home in a certain sense. Home was where your family are, and both had family in each of the houses.

But the point was, James's bedroom looked strangely empty, lacking the amount of junk – whoever's it may be – on the floor, curtsy of either one of the room's occupants. There were no dirty t-shirts slung across the desk; no stray socks lying in a pile at the foot of the bed; no half-read books, folded at the spine, littering the bedside table and no pranking supplies crammed into every spare space left in the room, like under the bed and in the chest of drawers.

Deciding that she would give them half-an-hour more sleep before she woke them, Mrs Potter walked silently back out of the room and into the hallway, the door closed behind her with a quiet 'thud'. She put the camera away safe, and then proceeded to walk downstairs to the kitchen so that she could prepare breakfast for the two children upstairs. They had a very big day ahead of them, and they could do with the extra energy that a full English breakfast could provide.

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Lily's eyes fluttered open slowly and she then lay and stared up at the ceiling for a while. She did not want to move too much, in case she hurt James, seeing as she was practically sprawled on top of him; any wrong, sudden movement could mean him getting kneed in a rather unfortunate place for a boy.

This position wasn't particularly awkward in any way; in fact, Lily was very comfortable where she was.

Her petite hand was snug and wound perfectly in James's and over the course of the night she had rolled over in her sleep and ended up curled right up to the messy-haired boy's side and allowed her head to flop down onto his shoulder.

James had accidentally fallen asleep in his glasses the night before and they had half fallen down, off his nose, and overall Lily found this particularly amusing, but she carefully lifted her spare hand, sat up a tiny bit and pushed the black frames back into place where they belonged.

_Much better_, she thought, satisfied with her work, her lips curving into content smile when James put and arm around her and cuddled her closer to him again, missing having her next to him.

Ten minutes later and Lily still hadn't moved, but something was important about today, the problem was that she couldn't remember what…

And then she remembered.

"JAMES!" she suddenly exclaimed loudly, loud enough to give leave him momentarily deaf in one ear.

"ARGH!" James screamed in alarm, jumping away from the noise and landing in a heap on the floor, but Lily was too excited than to care.

"James, it's today! Today is it!" she said excitedly, hopping down off of the bed and next to James. She extended her hands to pull him up, but she couldn't stop the enthusiasm in her actions.

James gratefully accepted the offered help up and looked at the bouncing redhead sleepily.

"What's going on, Lils?" he asked, yawning loudly, trying to sneak past het and back into the warmth of the bed.

"Don't you know what today is?!" she squeaked, preventing him from falling back to sleep by tugging on the sleeve of his pyjamas.

"Um…Tuesday?" he answered groggily.

"No, silly…well, yes, it is Tuesday, but I meant that it's September the first! We're going to Hogwarts today!"

Immediately, it was almost as if something had been switched on in his brain. All traces of fatigue disappeared instantly and James was suddenly wide-awake. His hazel eyes shone brightly and a smile that was big enough to fill his whole face appeared.

James grabbed Lily's hands and began jumping up and down and around in circles, both of them laughing and shrieking in glee.

They had waited for this day for years, and now it was finally here!

"We're going to Hogwarts, Angel!" he grinned, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug.

"I know! I can't believe it!" Lily beamed, squeezing James even tighter.

"Come on! Let's go see what my Mums' made us for breakfast! I'm starving!" James announced, his stomach rumbling loudly as if to prove his point.

"Me too! I'll race you!" she challenged, grabbing her dressing gown off of the floor and rushing from the room before James even had the chance to process what she'd said.

"Hey! No fair!" he yelled, chasing after her. He was not going to let her beat him…again.

**So how was it? Worth the wait? Please let me know and review! :) Thank you for the lovely people who reviewed the first chapter, I was very happy with the feedback I got :) **

**And as a side note: I WILL NEVER ABANDON ANY OF MY STORIES! I promise you that I will eventually update, no matter how long it takes me. And thank you to the people who are still reading my work; thank you for sticking with me and I'd also like to thank you for giving me the motivation I need to attempt to write :) I love you all! :)**

**Love Megan xxxxx**


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